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Efficiency and Complexity ­in Grammars
By John A. (University of Cambridge)

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Format
Hardback, 328 pages
Other Formats Available

Paperback : $116.00

Published
United Kingdom, 1 October 2004

Jack Hawkins has long been a trail-blazer in the attempt to reconcile the results of formal and functional linguistics. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars charts new territory in this domain. The book argues persuasively that a small number of performance-based principles combine to account for many grammatical constraints proposed by formal linguists and also explain the origins of numerous typological generalizations discovered by functionalists. Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars is a landmark work, setting a new standard in the study of the relationship between linguistic competence and performance. Tom Wasow, Stanford University Hawkins argues that grammars are profoundly affected by the way humans process language. He develops a simple but elegant theory of performance and grammar by drawing on concepts and data from generative grammar, linguistic typology, experimental psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. In so doing, he also makes a laudable attempt to bridge the schism between the two research traditions in linguistics, the formal and the functional. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars is a major contribution with far-reaching consequences and implications for many of the fundamental issues in linguistic theory. This is a tremendous piece of scholarship that no linguist can afford to neglect. Jae Jung Song, University of Otago, New Zealand


John A. Hawkins completed his PhD at Cambridge University in 1975. He has held positions at the University of Essex, the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics, and the University of Southern California. In 2003 he was elected to a chair at Cambridge. His visiting appointments include UCLA, Berkeley, Potsdam, and the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He has research interests in linguistics and cognitive science and has published books and articles on typology and universals, syntax and grammatical theory, and psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. Recently, his particular focus has been the relationship between principles of language use and grammars. His books include A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency (Cambridge, 1994); A Comparative Typology of English and German (Austin, 1986) Word Order Universals (New York, 1983), Definiteness, and Indefiniteness: A Study in Reference and Grammaticality Prediction (London, 1978).

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Product Description

Jack Hawkins has long been a trail-blazer in the attempt to reconcile the results of formal and functional linguistics. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars charts new territory in this domain. The book argues persuasively that a small number of performance-based principles combine to account for many grammatical constraints proposed by formal linguists and also explain the origins of numerous typological generalizations discovered by functionalists. Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars is a landmark work, setting a new standard in the study of the relationship between linguistic competence and performance. Tom Wasow, Stanford University Hawkins argues that grammars are profoundly affected by the way humans process language. He develops a simple but elegant theory of performance and grammar by drawing on concepts and data from generative grammar, linguistic typology, experimental psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. In so doing, he also makes a laudable attempt to bridge the schism between the two research traditions in linguistics, the formal and the functional. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars is a major contribution with far-reaching consequences and implications for many of the fundamental issues in linguistic theory. This is a tremendous piece of scholarship that no linguist can afford to neglect. Jae Jung Song, University of Otago, New Zealand


John A. Hawkins completed his PhD at Cambridge University in 1975. He has held positions at the University of Essex, the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics, and the University of Southern California. In 2003 he was elected to a chair at Cambridge. His visiting appointments include UCLA, Berkeley, Potsdam, and the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He has research interests in linguistics and cognitive science and has published books and articles on typology and universals, syntax and grammatical theory, and psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. Recently, his particular focus has been the relationship between principles of language use and grammars. His books include A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency (Cambridge, 1994); A Comparative Typology of English and German (Austin, 1986) Word Order Universals (New York, 1983), Definiteness, and Indefiniteness: A Study in Reference and Grammaticality Prediction (London, 1978).

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Product Details
EAN
9780199252688
ISBN
0199252688
Writer
Other Information
numerous tables
Dimensions
23.4 x 15.6 x 1.9 centimetres (0.63 kg)

Table of Contents

1: Introduction
2: Linguistics Forms, Properties and Efficient Signaling
3: Defining the Efficiency Principles and their Predictions
4: More on Form Minimization
5: Adjacency Effects Within Phrases
6: Minimal Forms in complements/Adjuncts and Proximity
7: Relative Clause and Wh-movement Universals
8: Symmetries, Asymmetric Dependencies and Earliness Effects
9: Conclusions
Abbreviations
References
Index of Authors
Index of Languages
Subject Index

About the Author

John A. Hawkins completed his PhD at Cambridge University in 1975. He has held positions at the University of Essex, the Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics, and the University of Southern California. In 2003 he was elected to a chair at Cambridge. His visiting appointments include UCLA, Berkeley, Potsdam, and the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. He has research interests in linguistics and cognitive science and has published books and
articles on typology and universals, syntax and grammatical theory, and psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. Recently, his particular focus has been the relationship between principles of
language use and grammars. His books include A Performance Theory of Order and Constituency (Cambridge, 1994); A Comparative Typology of English and German (Austin, 1986) Word Order Universals (New York, 1983), Definiteness, and Indefiniteness: A Study in Reference and Grammaticality Prediction (London, 1978).

Reviews

Jack Hawkins has long been a trail-blazer in the attempt to reconcile the results of formal and functional linguistics. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars charts new territory in this domain. The book argues persuasively that a small number of performance-based principles combine to account for many grammatical constraints proposed by formal linguists and also explain the origins of numerous typological generalizations discovered by functionalists. Frederick J. Newmeyer, University of Washington Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars is a landmark work, setting a new standard in the study of the relationship between linguistic competence and performance. Tom Wasow, Stanford University Hawkins argues that grammars are profoundly affected by the way humans process language. He develops a simple but elegant theory of performance and grammar by drawing on concepts and data from generative grammar, linguistic typology, experimental psycholinguistics and historical linguistics. In so doing, he also makes a laudable attempt to bridge the schism between the two research traditions in linguistics, the formal and the functional. Efficiency and Complexity in Grammars is a major contribution with far-reaching consequences and implications for many of the fundamental issues in linguistic theory. This is a tremendous piece of scholarship that no linguist can afford to neglect. Jae Jung Song, University of Otago, New Zealand

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